Vampire University (Book One in the Vampire University Series) (6 page)

Taylor paused for a moment. Could she? she wondered.

“I don’t know," said Taylor. "Can we just take a break? I need to get this knife out of my back and calm down.”

Hannah grimaced at the word "knife".

Seriously, Taylor thought to herself. Calm down. She had been more anxious in the past 24 hours than she could recall ever being. Perhaps she was taking everything too seriously, she thought. Perhaps well-intentioned friends deserved some benefit of the doubt.

“Okay,” said Hannah. “Thanks for at least considering it. Do you want me to give you some space?”

“You can stay,” Taylor said, still angry, but with the edge gone from her voice.

Hannah considered Taylor for a moment.

“I’ll go,” Hannah said and then silently left the room.

Hannah had only been gone for a few minutes when Taylor heard a knock on the door. The dorm room doors did not have peepholes, so Taylor was surprised to find Joseph standing on the other side. From the look on Joseph’s face, it was clear that he wasn’t expecting Taylor either.

“Is Hannah here?” Joseph asked, peering over Taylor’s shoulder to the room behind her.

In contrast to his normal coolly aloof facade, Joseph appeared visibly distressed.

“She just left,” Taylor replied.

“What happened?” he asked, his eyes scanning the room behind Taylor.

“I caught her talking to you about me and Eric and she left, if that’s what you’re asking."

“So he wasn’t here?”

“Eric? No. You should try your place."

“Where did she go? Was she looking for him?” Joseph asked, his voice raised in concern.

Taylor felt a tinge of sympathy for Eric. As overbearing as she felt Joseph was towards her, at least she didn’t have to worry about him going door to door to track her down. Being related to Joseph must be unbearable, she thought.

“I don’t know where she went,” Taylor answered.

“But was she going to find Eric?”

“I don’t know where she went, or why,” Taylor repeated. “Given the conversation you two were having, it wouldn’t surprise me.”

Joseph appeared to think for a moment and then asked, “Can I come in?”

“No."

Joseph ignored her and pushed past her into the room.

“HEY! I said, no!”

“Oh, did you?” Joseph responded, looking genuinely surprised. “You say that a lot.”

“You ask for it a lot.”

Taylor stared directly at Joseph and made it clear from her expression that he was not welcome. Joseph seemed unaware of her hostility and made no motions towards leaving, so Taylor stood in the doorway. She had resolved to keep an escape route available whenever she was around him.

“So, you heard our conversation then?” he asked.

“I did,” she replied.

Joseph appeared to be waiting for her to elaborate, but she just kept returning his stare.

“What did you hear?” he asked, breaking the silence.

“I heard most of it and what I didn’t hear, Hannah filled in the rest,” Taylor lied.

“Oh,” Joseph said, looking down at this feet. “No wonder you don’t want me in here.”

Taylor didn’t want Joseph in her room because he was creepy, overbearing, and possibly a stalker. She wondered why he thought she didn’t want him there.

“I get it. I’ll go then,” Joseph said and moved towards the door.

Since Joseph believed that she knew more than she did, Taylor was determined to use this to press for more information.

“Hold on,” Taylor said, moving to block his access to the hallway. “I think after that conversation you owe me an explanation.”

Taylor crossed her arms across her chest and tried to look impassable. Joseph regarded her with a quizzical look, but did not attempt to leave.

“Well, what did Hannah tell you?” he asked.

Taylor had hoped that he would just start talking. All she knew was that he and Hannah both felt strongly that Eric was not good for her, but she really didn’t know anything beyond that. Still, she was determined to press for more.

“Well, she explained why Eric was so dangerous…”

Joseph let out a big sigh.

“But I’m going to be honest
,
” she continued
.
“You seem more dangerous than he is.”

Joseph sighed again and said, “We’re all dangerous. It’s really a question of intentions. Eric doesn’t care about anything but what he can get away with. So he’s dangerous.”

This sounded to Taylor like generic “boys are trouble” talk. She assumed there must be something more. Perhaps a criminal past? Trouble in school?

“So what does he think he can get away with?” she asked.

“With you? I’m not sure. Usually vampires can be very persuasive, but you don’t seem to be affected by us."

Taylor wasn’t sure how to respond to this. She had no idea what he meant by vampires. Was that a goth fad? A cult thing? She was about to ask, but reminded herself that she was supposed to already know all this since Hannah had supposedly told her everything.

“And why do you think that is?” Taylor asked.

Joseph shrugged.

“I don’t know. This is a first for us. Usually people just listen.”

As Joseph said “just listen,” Taylor was reminded of the phone conversation she had overheard between Joseph and Hannah. All that Taylor could gather from Joseph was that he saw himself and Eric as a part of some secret clique that referred to themselves as vampires who were enamored of their own persuasive abilities. It all sounded creepy, out of touch with reality, and not at all square with her image of Eric. Or Hannah, for that matter, who apparently was connected in some way to the brothers, or at least Joseph.

As Taylor tried to reconcile this with her perception of Eric, she realized that she was engaging Joseph on his terms and falling in line with his Eric-free agenda for her.

Still, she resolved to be cautious about approaching Eric. If there was any potential danger  then she should mitigate that. As any single young women would, she told herself. All the evidence so far suggested that it was Joseph who should be avoided though, not Eric.

“So why can’t I just keep not listening?” she asked.

“That only works if he takes ‘no’ for an answer,” he replied.

“So you’re saying he would force himself on me?”

“I’d prefer it if you didn’t tempt him."

This statement sounded like victim-blaming to her. As though if Eric acted on his desire for her, then it would be her fault for being too desirable. She was convinced now more than ever that if she was going to take sides here, she was going to side with Eric. Joseph was already creepy. Now he was sounding sexist.

“I’ll try to control my feminine charms,” she said.

“Being female is only half your problem.”

“And the other half?”

“Being alive,” he said without an indication of what that was supposed to mean.

Taylor decided she didn’t want to know what that meant. Whatever Joseph was thinking, she was pretty sure she did not see things the same way.

“Well, there’s nothing that can be done about either half, so while your concern is well noted, I think I will just have to muddle through.”

Joseph just looked at her for a moment.

“You don’t take this seriously,” he said.

He wasn’t asking; this was a statement.

“I take this very seriously, which is why I would like you to leave now."

“Fine. You don’t know where Hannah went?” he asked again, stopping in the doorway besides her.

“Nope,” she replied and slammed the door behind him as he left.

-6-

Taylor tried to process what Joseph had told her and the conclusion she kept coming to was that Joseph was untrustworthy. For some reason, Hannah seemed more inclined to trust Joseph over Eric, but every encounter Taylor had with Eric just convinced her that he was the normal one in the family.

Though she bristled at the idea of Joseph and Hannah dictating to her whom she hung out with, it would certainly alleviate all of the pressure if she just let Eric go. He was just some cute guy who showed interest, but she wasn’t entirely convinced that he was worth all this trouble.

Still, Joseph’s remarks stuck in her mind. Though she hated the idea of Joseph breathing down her neck, she hated the idea of him getting his way even more. Suddenly feeling resolute, she pulled out her cellphone and pulled up Eric’s phone number. The image of him mugging for the camera made her smile. It was so much more pleasant than Joseph’s perpetually dire expression.

She opened up a new message and wrote him a text.

still up for tonight? feeling better

The response came immediately.

meet you in lobby @ 6.30?

Taylor looked at the clock. It was 5:30.

ok

An hour wasn’t much time to get ready, but the lack of extra time would give her less room to reconsider her date. She looked at herself in the mirror. Her hair was fine, her make-up was fine, and her clothes were also fine. Fine was not going to cut it; she would need to change everything. She grabbed her bathroom kit and rushed down the hall.

Once she was back and dressed, she stood in the mirror again appraising her appearance. She had carefully selected her wardrobe to look nice, but not too fussy. This was an impromptu date, so she didn’t want to look like she had been planning her wardrobe all day. She also didn’t want to look like she was phoning it in. She traded her comfy jeans for her cute jeans and her t-shirt for a black fitted shirt with a lacy collar. She rarely wore jewelry, but accessorized today with a faux white gold chain and pendant with matching dangly earrings.

She was pretty pleased with the results. She could wear this outfit to a club or restaurant, but it could also be worn to a movie theater or bowling alley. There were touches of glam, but the jeans kept it down to earth. She wished that she could lose the glasses, but for now they would have to do. She wasn’t going to sacrifice being able to see her date for the sake of appearances.

She grabbed her purse and was preparing to leave when Hannah stepped into the room.

Hannah took one look at her and asked, “Going out?”

“Yep. Don’t wait up!” Taylor said, trying to sound breezy and carefree while she kept moving towards the door.

“Taylor, please…” Hannah began, but Taylor interrupted her.

“I know. I understand. I’ll be careful. We’ll stay in well-lit public places and I promise I’ll call if I need anything, okay?”

“Okay…” Hannah said softly, staring down at the floor.

Hannah did not make an effort to stop Taylor as she left.

Eric was already waiting for her in the lobby. For all the time she spent thinking about the proper combination of wardrobe choices to present the perfect impression, Eric was not similarly burdened. He acknowledged this was a date by switching out his shorts for jeans and that was about it. He was still wearing a t-shirt and his hair was still a slight mess, but this just made him appear bo
yishly cute. Taylor wished there were
corners to be cut for girls that made them look more attractive, but alas it seemed that only boys could be made more attractive by not caring about their appearance.

“You look nice,” he said as she approached him.

Taylor congratulated herself on an hour well spent.

“So do you,” Taylor said.

“Yeah. I put on long pants!”

He said this while tugging at the hem of his jeans as if to prove that they did in fact go all the way down.

“I’m impressed,” she said.

“You ready?”

“For?”

“It’s a surprise,” he said with a mischievous grin. “Come on!”

With that, he turned sharply and started walking down the path away from the dorms and around the corner. He didn’t appear to be waiting for her, so she hurried along after him.

The sidewalk led to a high brick wall that ran the length between two taller buildings. There was a high-arched gate in the center of the wall and as they walked through they found themselves in an urban park lined with tall trees. In the center was a small pond that was hidden from view from the street by the wall and trees. A cement slab bench sat on the far side of the pond.

“C’mon!” Eric said while leading her towards the bench.

As they approached, Taylor noticed a grocery bag tucked just out of view. Eric practically skipped to the bench. He reached behind it, grabbed the bag, and placed it on the bench with a flourish. He reached into the bag and pulled out two paper-wrapped subs and held them out to Taylor.

“Ham or turkey?” he asked.

“I’ll take turkey.”

Taylor was impressed with the gesture. Given his typical frat boy appearance, Taylor was expecting an uninspired dinner and a movie. She appreciated this surprise picnic and was a little embarrassed that she had felt nervous for a moment walking into a secluded park alone with him.